Medicine: Cyclotron Cataracts

Physicist Dean B. Cowie, 28, was standing about two feet away from the
new cyclotron at Carnegie Institution of Washington. The date was Dec.
31, 1943. Unexpectedly, the cyclotron worked on its first trial. Cowie
was hit by a charge of neutrons that may have been as much as 15
million volts. In spite of three operations, he is now blind in one
eye. He can barely see out of the other, but hopes it will improve
after an operation.

The cyclotron, man's first atom-smasher, is apparently most dangerous
when it is just starting its first magnetic merry-go-round and still
needs adjusting....